Telugu Desam Party functionaries enforced a peaceful bandh in Kadapa district on Thursday demanding voting on the A.P. Reorganisation Bill in the State Legislative Assembly.
Government offices, banks, petrol filling stations, cinema theatres and educational institutions were by and large closed on account of the bandh. Nearly 900 buses went off the roads in eight depots in the district. TDP leaders S. Goverdhan Reddy, Ameer Babu, K. Balakrishna Yadav, P. Ramu, Ravisankar Reddy and functionaries went round from early morning and enforced bandh.
Former Minister P. Brahmaiah, district TDP secretary M.V. Ramana and leaders C. Sudhakar, T. Lakshminarayana and Venkateswar Naidu led a motorcycle rally from the Sub-Collector’s office to the Railway Station road in Rajampet and enforced bandh.
Anantapur Staff Reporter adds: Bandh was total in Anantapur town. Right from morning, protestors blocked most of the thoroughfares in Anantapur town bringing the traffic to a grinding halt. The TDP leaders stopped all traffic at the RTC bus stand including buses and other forms of public transport.
On the other hand, the samaikyandhra advocates JAC and employees JAC held a sit in protest – Samaikya Dharma Deeksha – near the clock tower, on Subhash road demanding that the Bill be rejected by the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and sent back to the government.
Speaking at the protest programme, senior advocate and noted human rights activist Ramkumar said that the Bill was indeed prepared haphazardly and posed a great danger to the federal structure of the nation itself even as it shall prove to be detrimental to the interests of the Rayalaseema region in particular and the State in general.
Celebrations amongst a few protestors
The TDP cadre who enthusiastically took part in the protests till afternoon distributed sweets in jubilation of the Assembly adopting a resolution rejecting the reorganisation Bill.
Partial in Chittoor
Chittoor Staff Reporter adds: The TDP sponsored bandh was partial and peaceful in Chittoor and Madanapalle divisions. The bandh organizers in Chittoor town led by the party’s district president J. Srinivasulu converged at Janatha Bazar centre and staged a rasta roko in the morning. All business establishments in prime localities remained shut till midday. while the interior and outskirts of the town felt little impact of the bandh. The APSRTC buses confined to the depots started plying the roads freely from afternoon, while the rural services all over remained unaffected.
The TDP cadres went jubilant in Madanapalle, Kuppam and Chittoor on hearing the news of the rejection of the T-bill in the assembly. However, in Kuppam, the constituency represented by the TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, the bandh was total with the voluntary participation of the public.
Mixed response in Tirupati
Tirupati Staff Reporter adds: The bandh call evoked a mixed response in the temple city but the news of the bill’s rejection came handy for the integrationists to celebrate. TDP cadres enforced bandh from 8 a.m. and organised rasta rokos and bike rallies in all the important centres of the city. Senior TDP leader Chadalawada Krishnamurthy said, “former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi rejected the option of dividing Andhra Pradesh, which was established on linguistic basis, but ‘Italy’ Sonia resorted to this with the sole intention of making her son the Prime Minster,” he charged.
Mr. Krishnamurthy also urged YSRC president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to end the drama and show his commitment by voting against the ‘T’ bill. TDP leaders Narsimha Yadav and D. Bhaskar Yadav opined that building another capital city such as Hyderabad would not be possible and appealed to the people to stay united for the development of the state. State Secretary Neelam Balaji and youth leader Sridhar Varma led a motorcycle rally from Gandhi statue to SV University.
The news of ‘T’ bill rejection changed the sombre mood and the jubilant integrationists burst crackers. PCC leader and ex-civic councillor P. Naveen Kumar Reddy bestowed the ‘Samaikyandhra Champion’ tag on Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. Engineering Colleges JAC and Samaikya Andhra Parirakshana Samithi (SAPS), which organised ‘Samaikya Vidyarthi Garjana’ on Wednesday, hailed the decision and requested President Pranab Mukherjee to respect the emotions of Telugu people and stop the bill from being introduced in the Parliament.